Qantas flights are ‘GROUNDED across Australia’ as thousands of passengers are left trapped on the tarmac after ‘major computer glitch’
- Qantas passengers stranded on planes and in airport lounges due to IT glitch
- Flights were unable to take off due to the nationwide computer system crash
- Qantas claims the issue has been resolved but warned of delays Sunday night
- Are you affected by Sunday night’s chaos: Email kylie.stevens@mailonline.com
Thousands of Qantas passengers have had their travel plans thrown into disarray by a nationwide computer glitch.
Furious travellers on packed planes were stranded on tarmacs across the country on Sunday night, desperate to get home in time for the working week.
Cabin crew have told passengers the airline is working to fix the technical issue but that flights can’t take off until the system is back up and running.
Many other frustrated travellers are stuck in airport lounges, desperate for answers as to when they’ll be able to board.
‘Any update on your international computer outage impacting every single flight from departing???? Sitting on fully packed plane on tarmac for 90mins for 2hr is pretty ridiculous!’ one traveller fumed on Twitter.
Qantas passengers across the country were stranded on planes and in airport lounges due to a computer issue on Sunday night (stock image)
The computer glitch has also impacted flights trying to take off across New Zealand
Another passenger waiting to board added: ‘Well it just gets better from Qantas. They just announced to the whole lounge that there is a ‘nationwide IT issue’ and that everyone should wait in the lounge until further notice. Gulp.’
The computer glitch has also affected Qantas flights across the Tasman trying to take off in New Zealand.
‘Still waiting at 7pm to leave on my Qantas plane from Auckland that was meant to leave at 5.40. Paperwork still has to be signed off,’ one traveller wrote.
Qantas has confirmed there was a computer glitch, which has since been resolved.
But the airline has warned of flow on effects which has resulted in delayed flights.
It added at least a dozen flights have been delayed but stressed there have been no cancelations.
The latest unwanted chaos for passengers comes on the back of a tough year for the airline, with travellers reporting long delays, lost luggage and problems with customer service.
Qantas has cut more flights from its schedule as the airline is plagued with industrial disputes, understaffing, poor organisation, cancellations and delays,
The news prompted Qantas Domestic and International CEO Andrew David to issue an on-air apology and vow to do better in the future.
‘Let me start by saying an apology to all your listeners. We are the national carrier, people have high expectations of us, we have high expectations of ourselves and clearly over the last few months we have not been delivering what we did pre-Covid,’ he told 2GB’s Ben Fordham last week.
Mr David confirmed Qantas had ‘reduced some of our flying this month’ and was ‘planning to do the same next month’ amidst ‘operational pressures’.
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